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It’s a cruel fact for millions of unemployed Americans that the jobs plan President Obama unveiled last night will never be fully enacted by Congress. What’s even crueler, though, is that the least effective elements of the plan have the best chance of passage. New direct federal spending, the most powerful form of stimulus, is widely considered DOA on Capitol Hill – while weaker tax cut options will get a real hearing.

Since the beginning of his candidacy, President Obama has made creating green jobs and growing a green economy one of his priorities.

The $787 billion economic stimulus program, which has now largely expired, helped avert an economic meltdown that was poised to rival the Great Depression. Despite public skepticism about the program, that was the conclusion of a detailed analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. At the outset, however, economists were warning that the stimulus program was far too small to offset an aggregate demand shortfall estimated at upwards of $2 trillion.

In a misguided effort to shore up his reputation with business, President Obama’s recent decision to suspend proposed ozone standards will ultimately result in higher overall costs for the country. The decision also furthers the false notion that we must choose between job creation and environmental protection.

Distinguished Senior Fellow and president of CivWorld and the Interdependence Movement Ben Barber recounts his whereabouts on 9/11 and explains why borders don’t matter anymore.

Today, on the morning of President Obama's jobs speech, the national policy center Demos published a new study detailing how the job losses of the Great Recession are intensifying the threat to America's middle class, which was already struggling after decades of economic stagnation, slow wage growth and rising costs.

In their new book, "Good Jobs America: Making Work Better for Everyone," Paul Osterman and Beth Shulman argue that the United States needs to worry about not just creating millions more jobs but also ensuring that the jobs are good ones.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

September 8, 2011

CONTACT:

Tim Rusch, [email protected], 212-389-1407

Lauren Strayer, [email protected], 212-389-1413 

Statement from Demos President Miles Rapoport on President Obama's Jobs Speech

In talking to my friend Jim the other day, I found myself expressing dismay at President Obama's decision to cancel the Environmental Protection Agency's revision of the Federal smog standard.